Power-driven hose reel



1366- 1964 A. J. BOWEN POWER-DRIVEN HOSE REEL.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1960 R. 0 m E V N I fIZfred' J BowenDec. 8, 1964 A. J. BOWEN POWER-DRIVEN HOSE REEL.

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1960 IN VEN TOR. A Zfr ed J Bowen Dec.8, 1964 A. J. BOWEN POWER-DRIVEN HOSE REEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April25, 1960 INVENTOR. AZfred J B Owen United States Patent Ofitice3,160,173 PatentedDec. 8, 1964 3,160,173 POWER-DRiVlEN HOSE REEL Alfred.1. Bowen, Evergreen Farm, The Ledges, RR. 1, Roscoe, ill. Filed Apr.25, 1969, Ser. No. 24,386 12 Claims. (Cl. 137-45552) This inventionrelates to a power-driven hose reel designed for location in a basement,crawl space or utility room. The reels drive means is so designed thatthe hose can be automatically paid out to whatever length is desired solong as there is a slight pull exerted on its outer end to maintain thedrive means operative, and to be rewound onto the reel while the switchbutton controlling the operation of the drive motor is being pressed.

Included among the novel features of the power-driven hose reel of myinvention are the following:

(l) The hose is maintained under water pressure at all times and isarranged to slide through a guide in the wall and has on its outer end ashut-off valve to which sprinklers, car washing brushes, hose nozzlesand so forth can be readily attached. When the hose is returned to thereel, this shut-olf valve functions as a sill-cock and is adapted to bereleasably latched in that position with respect to the wall. The valvealso has key projections on the body thereof which are received inkey-ways in its base on the wall to prevent turning of the valve whileit is used as a sill-cock, the location of the shut-off valve on andmoving with the outer end of the hose to the place where the water is tobe used being of great convenience to the user by eliminating trips backto the house, common with the old, conventional arrangement.

(2) The valve body has a tubular extension threadedly connected with thehose connection and the valve stem is correspondingly extended so thatthe shut-off occurs inside the house, thereby providing a frost-freeinstallation ready for instant use regardless of outside temperatures.

(3) An automatic switch, operable by a straightening of a bend in thehose between the reel and the guide in the wall when the user applies aslight pull on the hose in sliding the length that has been paid out,serves to throw the drive motor into operation to operate the reel tocontinue paying out hose as long as the slight pull is continued,thereby reducing to a minimum the labor involved in extending the hosefrom the house to a distant point of use.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG.1 is a vertical section on the line 11 of FIG. 2 showing the equipmentprovided on the Wall of a building in connection with the power-drivenhose reel of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a face view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional detail corresponding to a portion of FIG. 1,showing an alternative valve construction;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are a side view and end view, respectively, of thepower-driven hose reel unit of my invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are sectional details on the correspondingly numberedlines of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 10 is an electrical circuit diagram. 0

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding partsthroughout the views.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the reference numeral 10 designatesthe wall of a building and 11 the faceplate that is fastenedto theoutside thereof by screws or bolts entered in the corner holes 12, theplate also having a hose guide tube 13 for the hose 14 threaded into theenlarged threaded inner end 15 of a guide hole 16 provided through theplate, thereby further anchoring also.

the plate to the wall. The inner end of the tube 13 is flared, asindicated at 17, and the outer end of the hole 16 is similarly flared,as indicated at 18, to reduce wear on the hose in sliding back and forthin winding onto and unwinding off the reel 19 (FIG. 6). A compressiblegasket ring 20, metal backing washer 21, and clamping plate 22 are shownsurrounding the protruding inner end portion of the hose guide tube 13,abutting the inner side of the wall 10 to seal the opening made in thewall for the tube 13. The plate 22 may be fastened to the inside of wallIt by screws or the like (not shown). 23 is a valve body through which ahand operable stem 24 extends through the center of a tube 25 to operatea hollow molded rubber valve plug 26 in and out relative to a seat 27threadedly mounted in the inner end of the tube 25, the stem 24 beingthreaded in the neck portion of the body 23, as indicated at 28, andbeing rotatable by means of the handle 29 to turn the water on or off.The plug 26 is shown in FIG. 1 in its open position, withdrawn from theseat nipple 27. In its closed position, the plug end portion which ismarginally tapered to match the taper 33 (FIG. 3) of seat nipple 27, isradially compressed to close the longitudinal plug bore. The hose 14, aswill soon appear, is maintained full of water under pressure at alltimes and has the usual knurled internally threaded fitting 3i) swiveledon its outer end for threaded connection with the seat nipple 27, and alock nut 31 threaded on the nipple against the inner end of the tube 25locks the nipple in place and prevents its turning when the valve plug26 is turned home therein to shut off the water. As shown in FIG. 3, asolid, molded, rubber valve plug 32 may be substituted for the hollowplug 26, but, in both cases, the valve seat 27 has a tapered inner end33 for wedging engagement therein of the valve plug for a good,Watertight fit. The hollow plug 26 in the open position shown in FIG. 1allows water flow through its bore and radial ports. The solid plug 32in its open position shown-in FIG. 3 allows water flow around it, but,in both forms, the compressibility of the molded rubber enables wedging,sealing engagement in the tapered seat 33. The threaded spout 34 on thevalve body 23 permits connecting sprinklers, car washing brushes, hosenozzles and so forth at the point where the water is to be used when thehose is extended, and it is obviously of great advantage to the userthat he can shut off the water at the point distant from the house andnot have to make so many trips back to the house for that purpose. Also,the extension 25 gives the advantage that the water is shut off insidethe house when the valve body 23 is returned to the house with the hoseand is serving as a sill-cock, as shown in FIG. 1, thereby providing afrost-free installation and making Water available at all timesregardless of outside temperatures. This all-season availability ofwater under pressure enables a home owner to bring water to any part ofthe house in a matter of a few minutes and, in an emergency, this couldeasily mean the difference between failure and success in the event of afire breaking out somewhere on the premises. With the hose carryingwater under pressure at all times, the danger of kinking of the hose isalso greatly reduced and that, of course, is a big advantage and makesfor increased life of the hose, and it also makes it practical to uselighter weight, thinner walled plastic hoses and that, of course, makesfor greater ease of operation To make the valve body 23 substantially asrigid as a convention sill-cock when used for that purpose, asilustrated in FIG. 1, I provide keyways 35 in diametrically opposedrelationship in the neck 36 at the outer end of the guide hole 16, andprovide key projections 37 in diametrically opposed relation on the backof the valve body 23 for engagement in these keyways, thereby prea 7:9venting turning of the valve body relative to the plate 11. is arrangedto engage in a notch 49 in the body 23 to lock the body in place, andthis latch is held under pressure of a coiled compression spring 41normally in this position but is releasable by thumb pressure on itsbell-crank extension 42 when the user wishes to pull the hose out, usingthe valve body 23 as a handle for that purpose. There is a rewind switch43, the push-button 44 of which is suitably protected against theweather by means of a flexible, plastic cover 45 and, as will soonappear, the operator presses this button 44 when the hose is to berewound on the reel 19, using the power of the electric motor 46 (FIGS.46). In order to provide a safety disconnect feature in the event thebutton 44 of switch 43 fails to return to off position when the operatorreleases pressure thereon, I have provided an auxiliary switch 47connected in series with the switch 43 and having its button 48 normallyextending like the button 44 as shown in FIG. 1, but depressed by thebellcrank 42 of the latch 38 when the hose 14 is completely rewound. Inother words, the spring-pressed button 48 of switch 47 works in the samedirection as spring 41 to urge the latch 38 in a counter-clockwisedirection, and, when the valve body 23 is pulled out with the hose 14,the latch 38 will then be free to swing in a counterclockwise directionunder the action of button 48 and spring 41, to an extent limited by thestop 49, closing the circuit through switch 47 while switch 43 is stillin its open circuit position with its button 44 projecting to the extentshown. However, when the hose 14 is rewound on the reel 19 by depressionof button 4 4, the latch 38, at the end of the inward movement of tube25, is kicked out of the way by the inner end of the valve body 23sliding on the cam surface 50 on the latch 38, thereby depressing button48 to open switch 47 and accordingly stop the motor 46 whether or notthe button 44 has been released by the operator, or if the button 44fails to return by itself when thumb pressure thereon is released.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 to 9, 51 designates the hollow, generallyrectangular base for the hose reel 19, having attaching lugs 52 forfastening the same to a A latch 38, pivoted at 39 relative to the faceplate,

direction to drive the reel 19 in a counterclockwise direction, asviewed in FIG. 4, for unwinding the hose when there is-a slight outwardpull on the hose enough to straighten out the bend at 75 and have thehose extend along the dot and dash line ab from guide roller 76 to guidetube 13. A coiled tension spring 77 extending. from the fixed arm 78 tothe outer end of the oscillatable arm 79, where a guide roller 80 'isprovided for engagement with the hose 14 on the inner side of the bend75, immediately produces the bend 75 in the hose the moment there is nolonger any outward pull on the hose, the extent of the bend or bow inthe hose being limited by engagement of the arm 79 with an adjustablestop screw 81 threaded in the outer end of the fixed arm 78. While Ihave shown a fixed mounting 82 for the arm 78 on base 51, this is on theassumption that the base 51 is mounted on a vertical side wall, which isgenerally the most convenient. However, if it is preferred to mount thebase 51 in a horizontal plane on the ceiling or on a bracket or othersupport, then, of course, the switch 74 and its operating means 79 willhave to be adjustable to a plane at right angles to the horizontal planeof the base 51 or else be provided on a separate support where it can beoperated as herein described and illustrated in a vertical planeindependently of the plane of the base 51. Also, it should be understoodthat while I have illustrated a mercury type switch 74, there aremicroswitches available thatcould be used where the movable element ofthe switch would be operable by the oscillation of the arm 79 to obtainthe same results, without limitation to the plane of operation of arm79.

The operation of the power-driven hose reel of my invention should beclear from the foregoing description. The shut-off valve 23 functions asa sill-cock when the hose is wound on the reel 19 and the valve isreleasably secured in place on the wall 1t), as shown in FIG. 1. It is asimple matter to release the latch 38 by depression of its bell-crankend 42 when the user wants to pull out the wall or ceiling or a suitablesupporting bracket in the basement, crawl space or utility room. Acentrahhollow boss 53 has a bearing sleeve 54 for the hub 55 of the reelmounted therein and secured by means of a set screw 56 along with aswivel fitting 57 to one side of which the fixed water supply pipe 58 isconnected and to the other side of which the rotatable outlet pipe 59 isconnected. The latter carries the elbow 60 on its outer end for:onnection with the inner end of the hose 14, whereby to keep the. hose14 filled with water under pressure at all times. An anti-frictionneedle bearing is provided ?or the hub 55 on the sleeve 54, as indicatedat 61-,

1nd washers 62 at both ends of the hub 55 assume the and-thrust. Aretaining ring 63 is fixed on the outer and of the sleeve 54 to hold thehub 55 in assembled pollilOll thereon, and a large pulley 64 is fixed tothe inner ride of the reel 19 around the hub 55 for drive purposes. Abelt 65 extends from this pulley 64 to a :maller pulley 66 provided onone end of a drive shaft 57 mounted in a bearing 68 on the base 51. Thisshaft 57 carries an intermediate size pulley 69 on its other end 0 whichdrive is transmitted from a belt 70 from a :mall pulley 71 on thearmature shaft of the motor 46.

ilack take-up means are indicated at 72 and 73 for he belts 65 and 70,respectively. The motor 46 is of l reversible type and when thrown intooperation by means of the switch 43, turns in a clockwise direction isviewed in FIG. 4, to drive the reel 19 in a clockvise direction forwinding the hose 14 thereon Howiver, a mercury switch 74, shown in itself-position in IG. 4 while the hose 14 has the slight bend in it, asndicated at 75, between the hose guide rollers 76 and rose guide tube13, is arranged to close a circuit through be motor 46 to throw it intooperation in the reverse hose 14, and the instant there is a slight pullon the hose the switch '74 closes the circuit for the motor 46 as thebend or bow 75 in the hose is straightened out, thereby unwinding thehose under power operation of the reel and relieving the user of anyreal exertion in extending the hose to the place where the water is tobe used. The

water is instantly available upon opening the valve 23 and can be justas quickly shut off with the same valve, so that long walks back to thehouse are made unnecessary. When the water is no longer needed the userpresses the button 44 of switch 43 and causes the reversible motor 46 tooperate in the reverse direction to rewind the hose 14 onto reel 19. Thevalve 23 is set by the user in its sill-cock position on the wall, as.shown in FIG. 1, locked in place by means of the latch 38. A cutoutswitch 83, which is normally held closed by a spring 84, is interlockedwith switch 43 and connected in series with mercury switch 74, as shownin the circuit diagram, FIG. 10, so that so long as button 44 isdepressed for rewinding the hose, the mercury switch 74 is cut out ofthe circuit automatically and hence the straightening of the bowedportion '75 of the hose incidental to the rewinding of the hose has noeffect. It is only in the open circuit position of switch 43, whenswitch 83 is closed, that the closing of switch 74 by the straighteningof the bowed portion 75 of the hose 14' causes motor 46 to operate thereel in the direction to unwind the hose. Latch 38 operates the safetyswitch 47 to open the circuit at the end of the hose rewinding operationif the operator keeps the button 44 depressed too long. If the button 44gets stuck in the on position, the operator is made aware of that whenhe starts unwinding hose and finds upon pulling the hose that the motor46 fails to operate to unwind the hose by power, in which event heshould, of course, have the trouble remedied right away by freeing thebutton 44.

Spring 84 serves both to close switch 83 and open switch 43.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my in- Vention. The appended claims havebeen drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

Iclaim:

1. In combination, a flexible hose of suitable length and having innerand outer ends, means inside a building through which water is suppliedto the inner end of said hose continuously under pressure, said buildinghaving an upright wall in which an opening is provided and through whichthe hose is adapted to be pulled by its outer end, a combinationelongated sill-cock and shut-off valve attached to the outer end of saidhose for controlled discharge of water therefrom, said valve having aninner inlet end and having an outer discharge end outside the building,said valve extending through said opening far enough to make theconnection of its inner end with said hose frostproof, and means forrigidly but detachably securing the shut-otf valve in a predeterminedposition on the upright wall of said building when it is adapted toserve as a sill-cock.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said valve includes anoperating handle which has an elongated extension threaded along itsouter end portion for threaded adjustment endwise with respect to saidvalve and extending through the valve for connection at its inner endwith a shut-off at the inner end of said extension disposed far enoughinside the building to be frost-free, so as to make water alwaysavailable regardless of outside temperature.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1, including a reel inside saidbuilding on which said hose is wound and from which it may be unwound byan outward pull on the valve, electric motor for driving said reel torewind the hose thereon, a manually operable switch for controlling saidmotor, and a secondary switch electrically connected in series with saidmanual switch having a control button operable automatically to offposition by said valve when the hose is fully wound on the reel and thevalve is thereby returned to sill-cock position on the building.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1, including a reel inside saidbuilding on which said hose is wound and from which it may be unwound byan outward pull on the valve, a reversible electric motor for drivingsaid reel, a first switch means electrically connected with said motorwhich when closed operates the motor to turn the reel in one directionto unwind the hose therefrom, a second switch means electricallyconnected with said motor which when closed operates the motor to turnthe reel in the opposite direction to wind the hose thereon, the latterswitch means being manually operable, means responsive to an outwardpull on the hose for automatically operating said first switch means anda cut-out switch interlocked with the second switch means and connectedin series with the first switch means to render the latter inoperativeduring rewinding of the hose in response to closing of the second switchmeans.

5. In combination, a flexible hose of suitable length, and having innerand outer ends, means inside a building through which water is suppliedt9 the inner end of said hose continuously under pressure, said buildinghaving an upright wall in which an opening is provided and through whichthe hose is adapted to be pulled by its outer end, a combinationelongated sill-cock and shut-off valve attached to the outer end of saidhose for controlled discharge of water therefrom, said valve having aninner inlet end and having an outer discharge end outside the building,said valve extending through said opening far enough to make theconnection of its inner end with said hose frostproof, and means forrigidly but detachably securing the shut-off valve in a predeterminedposition on the upright Wall of said building when it is adapted to CJIserve as a sill-cock, said means including a mounting plate adapted tobe detachably secured to the outer side of said wall, the plate having aguide opening provided therein in register with the opening provided inthe Wall through which the hose is slidable into and from the building,and manually releasable latch means for detachably securing said valverigidly but detachably in a predetermined position on said plate.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein said valve includes anoperating handle operable outside the building when the valve serves asa sill-cock, said handle having an elongated extension providing theshut-off at the inner end of said extension, said handle extendingthrough the guide opening in the plate and through the hole in the wallof the building for frost-free operation of the valve regardless ofoutside temperature.

7. The combination set forth in claim 5 including a reel inside saidbuilding on which said hose is wound and from which it may be unwound byan outward pull on the valve, a reversible electric motor for drivingsaid reel, a manually operable first switch electrically connected withsaid motor which when closed operates the motor to turn the reel torewind the hose, a second switch electrically connected with the motorwhich when closed operates the motor in the opposite direction to unwindthe hose, means responsive to an outward pull on the hose forautomatically operating the second switch, and a cutout switchinterlocked with the second switch means and connected in series withthe first switch means to render the latter inoperative during rewindingof the hose in response to closing of the second switch means.

8. In a power-operated device of the character described, a rotatablymounted reel on which material is to be wound, a reversible electricmotor drivingly connected with said reel to turn it in either direction,a first switch means electrically connected with said motor, which whenclosed operates the motor to turn the reel in one direction to wind thematerial thereon, a second switch means electrically connected with saidmotor, which when closed operates the motor to turn the reel in theopposite direction to unwind the material therefrom, the first switchmeans being manually operable, means responsive to an outward pull onthe material with respect to said reel tending to unwind said materialfor automatically operating the second switch means to closed circuitposition, and a cut-out switch interlocked with the second switch meansand connected in series with the first switch means to render the latterinoperative during rewinding of the hose in response to closing of thesecond switch means.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8, including a guide for the materialwhich the material engages in unwinding from the reel and from which itextends in a substantially straight line back to the reel, the lastnamed means including spring-operated means engaging the material at apoint between the reel and the guide to flex the material away from saidstraight line with a force light enough to allow return of the materialto the straight line when an endwise pull is exerted on the material tounwind it from the reel.

10. In a power-operated device of the character described, a rotatablymounted reel on which windable material is wound, an electric motor fordriving said reel to pay out the material, a switch electricallyconnected with said motor which when closed operates the motor, andmeans responsive to an outward pull on the material for automaticallyclosing said switch.

11. A device as set forth in claim 10, including a guide for thematerial which the material engages in unwinding from the reel and fromwhich it extends in a substantially straight line back to the reel, thelast named means including spring-operated means engaging the materialat a point between the reel and the guide to flex the material away fromsaid straight line with a force light enough to allow return of thematerial to the straight line when an endwise pull is exerted on thematerial to unwind it from the reel.

12. A hose reeling device comprising a rotatably mounted hose reel, ahose adapted to be wound thereon, a reversible electric motor drivinglyconnected with the reel to turn it in either direction, a first switchelectrically connectedwith the motor, means including said hose andactuated in response to tension in said hose produced by a light outwardpull on the hose in an unwinding direction with respect to the reel foreffecting closing of said switch to cause the motor to turn in onedirection to drive the reel in an unwinding direction, and anotherswitch manually operable independently of the last mentioned means tocause the motor to turn in the opposite direction to drive the reel in arewinding direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,597,328 Read Aug. 24, 1926 c5 Liley Mar. 12, 1940 Wimer Apr. 16, 1940Zierden Oct. 20, 1942 Davis Mar. 2, 1943 Garancher Jan. 30, 1945 KeenerAug. 15, 1950 Wolfe Mar. 13, 1951 Moore Mar. 20, 1951 Newell NOV. 6,1951 Granberg Oct. 28, 1952 Karp Feb. 3, 1953 Fletcher Feb. 16, 1954Baker Sept. 14, 1954 Campbell Feb. 14, 1956 Sparks Jan. 8, 1957 Schlitz1 July 7, 19159 FOREIGN PATENTS Canada July 13, 1956

10. IN A POWER-OPERATED DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, A ROTATABLYMOUNTED REEL ON WHICH WINDABLE MATERIAL IS WOUND, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR FORDRIVING SAID REEL TO PAY OUT THE MATERIAL, A SWITCH ELECTRICALLYCONNECTED WITH SAID MOTOR WHICH WHEN CLOSED OPERATES THE MOTOR, ANDMEANS RESPONSIVE TO AN OUTWARD PULL ON THE MATERIAL FOR AUTOMATICALLYCLOSING SAID SWITCH.